Via NBC News: Low oil prices now ‘goal No. 1’ in Iran war, Vance says, as U.S. threatens new economic pressure.
Keeping gas prices low is now the United States’ “goal No. 1” in the Iran war, Vice President JD Vance has said, as Washington threatened an indefinite naval blockade and signaled it would soon intensify economic pressure on Tehran.
The comments appeared to be the latest shift in the public rationale for the conflict, with Vance ranking Iran’s nuclear ambitions second.
No, the comment was definitely “the latest shift in public rationale for the conflict.” The press needs to do better. Ain’t no “appeared” about it.
“I know that oil is down today and it’s way down from the highs in the early days of the conflict,” Vance told Fox News on Thursday, before the latest uptick. “That’s goal No. 1 — keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.”
He added that “obviously goal No. 2 is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.” Tehran insists it has no desire to develop one.
Of course, this is where it is incumbent on me to provide the following (via Gasbuddy), which shows, of course, that gas prices spiked because of the war of choice launched by Trump. Yes, lower than peak, but still considerably higher than when the whole thing started. I would provide the date it all started, but I am pretty sure it is pretty damn obvious when the bombing began on the chart below.
The NBC piece does conclude with the following:
The international oil benchmark of Brent Crude sits just above $87 dollars a barrel, 45% higher than it was in January. The average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. is now higher than $4; before the conflict it was lower than $3.
Meanwhile, Trump himself has not gotten the memo on what the new priority is, I guess.
The degree to which he keeps providing commercial fodder for the midterms is stunning, TBH.
To recap: we had a deal in place that was forestalling nuclear development, and Trump tore it up. Gas prices were far lower than they are now until Trump launched this war. Further, the Strait of Hormuz was open for international navigation until Trump launched this war.
Well, at least the old regime is gone (nope!), our allies are all safer (oops!), and Iran now has a diminished incentive to pursue nukes (well…).
But this sure sounds like it will work!
I know I feel better now!
